Refrigerator



c. H. LEONARD.

REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION mm APR. 16, 1919.

' EAQESQQ Patented July 25, 1922.

CHARLES H. nnoixrn, or GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, nssrenon TO GRAND RAPIDS REFRIGERATOR COMPANY, or GRAND RAPIDS, meme-AN, A CORPORATION or MICHIGAN.

REFRIGERATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 25, 1922a Application 'flled April 16, 1919. Serial Ito. 291,408.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. LEONARD, a citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to'which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to refrigerators. It is an object and purpose of the present invention to equip a refrigerator with a water cooling means which may at the same time serve as an ice holding rack carrying and supporting the ice in the refrigerator, said rack being in the form of a coil in which water may stay and be cooled by the ice resting on the rack, and from which water may be drawn for use. A further object of the invention is to equip the refrigerator with means for supplying the coil with water so constructed that none of the odors of food placed in the refrigerator can come in contact with the water, the water being fresh and uncontaminated in this respect at all times. A still further object of the invention is to so arrange the ice carrying rack coil that below said coil space is left in the ice compartment of the refrigerator in which beverages in bottled form may be placed over which the water coming from the ice may drop, and as this water is of a temperature approximately that of ice, the beverages are cooled and made more palatable. A yet further object of the invention is to provide means whereby water may be taken from the regular mains supplying most cities and supplied to the coil, or in case such mains are not available, other means are provided in the refrigerator itself in close proximity to the ice chamber of the refrigerator 1n' which a considerable supply of water may be placed, said latter means being of utility if the water is taken from the mains to hold many articles of food which will be cooled by reason of its proximity to the ice in the ice chamber of the refrigerator.

One construction by means of which these ends are attained as well as many others not specifically outlined at this point is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which, I

Fig. 1 is a erspective view of the upper part of a refrigerator equipped with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the parts which constitute the additional elements applied to a refrigeratorto make my invention, the parts being shown in assembled relation.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3- -3, of Fig.

2, looking down in the direction indicated by 1 the arrows.

Like, reference characters refer to like parts in the different views of the drawing. The refrigerator, indicated at 1, may have the usual ice chamber 2 in its upper portion, normally closed by a door 3. The top 4: of the refrigerator has an opening extending practically the full length and width of the ice chamber, which opening may be closed by a cover 5, and below this opening, a pan or reservoir 6, preferably of metal, is located having sides, ends and bottom but 0 en at its upper side so as to receive water w en the cover 5 is turned back to open position. The reservoir may be porcelain lined or of metal not subject to corrode or rust, and the same practically fills the entire upper portion of the ice chamber, there being in this manner provided a large reservoir for holding a relatively large quantity of water.

At one end and near the rear side of the reservoir a pipe 7 leads downwardly into the ice compartment of the refrigerator, having suitable plumbing connections indicated at 8 and 'Pwith the reservoir so that the water in the reservoir may pass downwardly through the pipe. A T 9 having a lateral branch is also interposed in the length of the pipe 7 for a purpose later described. A se ries of parallel substantially horizontal pipes 10 connected at their ends by U-shaped bends 11 and making a coil are disposed in the ice chamber a distance above the bottom of said compartment and the pipe 7 is connected to one end of the coil, the other end having connection with a short pipe 12 which passes out through the front of the refrigerator and is equipped at its end with any suitable form of faucet 13 operation of which may open or close the passage of water from the coil to the outside. Both ends of the coil are supported on cleats or blocks 14 suitably con- Mid neeted to any convenient part of the refrig- I coole From the lateral branch at the ends of the coil has a portion 16 pipe 17 leads through the side 1 of'the refrigerator and may be provided with a ;any' suitable the upper en cap 18 threaded on its outer end. This cap is removed when a connection of pipe 17 to awater main is desired and in this case lug may be threaded in to 7 of the pipe 7 where it attaches with the reservoir 6 so as to' stop water in the main filling the reservoir and overflowing the top thereof.

Y I" With this construction, ice is pl abova the coil, being carried entirely thereby.

Water may be supplied to the coil through the pipe 7 either by putting a supply in the reservoir 6 or by taking the same from any suitable pressure main through the branch pipe 17. In either case, ice carried by the coil in direct contact therewith serves to cool the water before it is Withdrawn through the faucet 13. It is to be noted also that the bottom of the reservoir 6 ractically forms the top side of the ice 0 amber and that'the water in the reservoir is at least partially cooled before it reaches the coil where it is further cooled.

In either of the methods of supplying -water to the coil, it is entirely free from contact with odors from food placed in the refri erator which, if they come to water to a comparativel low degree of temperature, condense an are absorbed by the water with a resultant more or less spoiling of the water for drinking purposes. This is one particular feature of merit in my invention. Again, if the water is taken through the lateral pipe 17, the reservoir 6, lying directly above the ice chamber, furnishes an independent compartment in which different articles of food or the like may be placed which it is not desirable to place in the provision compartment of the refrigerator, such as vegetables of the like.

And the positioning of the coil :to serve as an ice holding rack above the bottom of the ice chamber leaves an open space below the rack in which bottled beverages may be placed over which the cold water from the ice may fall, reducing the temperature of the beverages to that of the water from the ice. These features together with the simplicity of construction used in embodying the invention make the invention one of great value in the refrigerator art.

The lower part of the refrigerator is of the usual construction so that ascent of warm air and descent of cold air is had. Of course my inventionmay be applied to many other forms of refri erators than that illustrated, being ap'plica le to all of the usual constructions of refrigerators, side icing, grocers and the like, and I do not wish to be limited to the particular construction shown but consider myself entitled to all forms of the invention coming within the scope of the claim.

I claim:

In a'refrigerator, having an ice chamber, a coil formed of' a plurality of parallel horizontal pipes connected together and .located horizontally in the ice chamber a distance above the ottom of the chamber, a pipe supporting one end of the coil and having connection thereto whereby water entered into the pipe is carried to the coil, an outlet pipe connected to and leading from the coil through the front of the refrigerator, means at the front end of theoutlet pipe to control the passage of water from the coil, means for supplying water to said supporting pipe from a point outside of the ice chamber, a cleat or block on which the opposite end of the coil rests, and a lining to the ice chamber lying vertically alongside of the cleat and of the coil, sald llning having an inwardly struck portlon coming over the ends of the coil, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

1 CHARLES H. LEONARD. 

